I’m on a campaign to wipe out “beige food.” How I envy Anthony Bourdain who gets to travel around the globe indulging in amazing culinary sensations. I might not, however, be able to do that job, simply because I’m a one drink wonder and he seems to have to consume massive quantities of alcohol frequently in conjunction with those amazing foods. Not sure how much of an audience I would draw as they’d be filming me slurring my words and stumbling around, or falling asleep in my plate of food.

Sweet Potato hash browns, ground chicken, avocado and eggs.

The person you never want to get behind in the grocery store checkout or at the meat counter is me. Buying fresh means everything needs to be weighed out. I hear people in line behind me sighing away as the clerk asks questions like “what are these” when she picks up my tomatillos or habanero peppers, and my order takes forever to ring up. I’m proud to admit that I am on a first name basis with the folks in the produce department and behind the meat counter, and at my local farmer’s markets.

I try not to judge people for what is in their shopping carts, but I can tell you that people do notice what you buy in the grocery store. I’ve had cashiers, and other people say wow, looks like you eat healthy, or now that is a TON of vegetables. I hope it doesn’t ever come across as bragging, but when someone notices, I generally can’t help but say, yes I used to weigh 215 pounds, but diet and exercise help!! And with minimal engagement, I’ve been known to share information about Paleo blogs/websites.

I love sharing what I’ve learned and hope by doing that I can inspire others to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Eating pretty food honestly makes a person feel better-not only because you are cooking fresh, but also because you are exploring the wonderful world of food and nutrition.

Life is too short to eat beige food or Anthony Bourdain would not have a net worth of 9 million dollars!!

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 sweet potato, peeled and shredded

1/2 avocado, cubed

1 cup ground chicken, pre-cooked and spiced with your favourites

1-2 farm fresh eggs

1-2 T coconut oil

Heat coconut oil in a skillet over Med High heat. Add shredded sweet potato and cook until browned but not burned..kinda tricky because of sugar content of the potatoes.

Cook 1-2 eggs in 1 T ghee or butter.

Arrange with sweet potatoes on bottom, ring with avocado, and top with cooked chicken and eggs.

Halloween in my day was a simpler affair..you scrounged through your closets or boxes in the basement to come up with a costume. There was no such thing as spending money on a costume..so choices were somewhat limited. I went as a gypsy for years. Maybe it was just part of my natural internal calling to be a free spirit and somewhat mysterious, but honestly that was about as wild as you could be and get away with it back in those days. The standard gypsy costume was fairly simple.. a flowing skirt, belt, flowery blouse, bandanna for your hair, lots of bangles, and hoop earrings.

Other “classic” closet costumes were cowgirl..bandanna, jeans, boots and a hat; hobo ( I was going to say tramp, but that’s taken on a whole new Halloween meaning these days)…bandanna, stick, ripped pants and your Dad’s old suit coat; a giant baby..adult size blanket sleeper, hair in braids and a rattle; a mom….bathrobe, bandanna tied around some pink curlers (and Lord help you if you came home missing a curler); 50’s girl in a poodle skirt..bandanna to tie your hair back in a pony tail, bobby socks and a poodle skirt..this required that either you had an older sister who had a 50’s theme homecoming party, or your mom had a giant hunk of felt and she was willing to help you sew a poodle on it (luckily my mom was a seamstress AND an artist so my poodles looked more like an actual dog than the “lambs” my friends had on theirs); geisha girl..silk robe with Oriental pattern of some sort, and slippers..and not the best option if the weather was looking bad. Several options were out if you didn’t have a bandanna. And with my intense fear of clowns, that costume never ever hit my radar.

Somewhere along the line, my mom decided that chicken pot pies were her “go to meal” on Halloween. I think it was because she was working by then, and we were always chomping at the bit to get out into the streets to fill our pillow case with as much candy as possible. I always had to take my little brother along with us, but he was athletic and able to keep up..and he was a pretty cool little kid, even if he always fell down and spilled half his candy at some point in the night.

At some level, she had to know that the chicken in the pot pies was NOT real, and that they were packed with sodium, but I guess she figured that eating them once a year wouldn’t kill us. I loved the crust and would always eat the crust all the way around the edges first, then the top and then scoop out filling and save the bottom crust for last.

My Dad never allowed us to eat candy, so this was our own chance to get a stash of sweet stuff. Back in the day, kids could trick or treat without a lot of parental supervision..my mom still checked our candy/treats once we got home, searching for apples with razor blades, poison tainted popcorn balls or unwrapped pieces of candy. We’d have to remember which house gave us the popcorn balls in order to keep them. She was always excited to see lame Halloween treats like toothbrushes, pencils, or erasers. Then she would grill us about if we’d remembered our manners, telling us she better not hear otherwise from the neighbors.

It only seemed fitting that this year for Halloween, as the twins were getting dressed up for Halloween that we have Paleo Chicken Pot pie.

I’m a firm believer in the healing powers of the following things: positive thinking, fresh air, water, chicken soup, and hot peppers. My kids will tell you that my first cure for any malady is to “drink more water.” Got a cold..stay hydrated..drink more water; feeling tired..drink more water; sore muscles..drink more water; hangover..definitely drink more water; broken arm..drink more water, just use your good arm.

On a secondary level to water and positive thinking..I believe that chicken soup has healing powers as well..it’s good for colds, cold days and your soul. My Babcia made the best chicken noodle soup with thick homemade noodles, so early in my life I began to associate chicken soup with love. It wasn’t until I moved to Colorado that I found out that hot peppers not only contain lots of natural Vitamin C, but they also just make things taste AMAZING.

As the temperatures have finally begin to resemble Fall here in Colorado, and I’m doing my best to fight off a cold that everyone around me seems to have, I decided to make spicy chicken soup for dinner. I guess you could call it Tortillaless Chicken Tortilla Soup. Either that or I could search for recipes for Paleo Tortillas…note to self. Once I perfect a recipe for Paleo Tortillas I will add it here!!

This is the yummy, spicy chicken soup that I created. I wish I could include a “smell” sample because it smells absolutely amazing. Here’s to good health, and the power of healing yourself with good food.

Simmer on Medium heat until chicken is fully cooked, adding additional chicken broth if necessary.. You can also cook a smaller batch in a crockpot if you like. Not only will your house smell amazing, but your chicken will become incredibly tender and it will soak up all that yummy flavor AND you will discover that spicy chicken soup is even better for your soul.

I can’t believe it’s been this long since I last wrote something on this blog. SO much has happened!!

Shortly after the last post, we found out that we were going to have to move within 30 days. Overnight I went from sheer panic to elation..a property we had looked at the previous year was back on the market and the owner contacted me to see if I was still interested, all within 24 hours.

I’m HAPPY to report that we are no longer living in town!! We moved in March of this year to ten wooded/meadowed acres of bliss. The place was a real mess when we first moved there, as previous tenants had abandoned the property, but nothing that hard work, vision and love can’t overcome.

view from our meadow of Tava..sacred mountain of the Utes

At night I always tell the twins stories before I tuck them into bed. During those first few months, I often made up stories about our life at the Ramshackle Ranch which is what I called our place until recently. Initially, every day was like a CrossFit workout, weekends were like CrossFit competitions..I found myself digging deep to finish tasks that I never thought I had the strength to do. When I did get in to town to workout at our gym I even joked about having my own personal box: CrossFit Ramshackle. I told my friends..I flip tires for REAL.

Slowly the ranch has begun to transform back into the beautiful place it truly is, so much so, that I’m trying out some new names..Fox Meadow Ranch being at the top of the list, followed by Fox Creek Ranch. The house still needs a lot of work..but when I listen to the wind in the trees, count the time between bright flashes of lightning and the subsequent thunder, watch the full moon rise above the barn, and stand on the deck at 3 AM in awe of the stars, any anxiety I have simply evaporates.

front of the house..gotta love all the windows..it looks pretty awesome right..let me add a pic of the 1980’s carpet and unfinished basement with the turquoise toilet to snap you back to reality.
I started a garden in June-a little late in the season honestly, but we had snowstorms through May. We live on the edge of the Palmer Divide which is known for being the natural path of many storms.

Oriole in the tree after Mother’s Day snowstorm which dumped 12 inches of wet snow

I’ve never truly had my very own vegetable garden. I’ve done some minor container gardening and some herb gardens but my focus has always been on flowers. My teeny little vegetable garden was my summer delight, and once it started producing you would have thought, I was the only person on the planet who had ever gardened successfully.

I wanted the garden to be a teaching tool for the twins and they took to it immediately. We recycled an old book shelf that was leaning to one side into sectioned raised beds. We planted peppers, squash, tomatoes and strawberries. I even got to use some of the peppers we grew in my hot pepper jams this summer.

My little scarecrows!!

So that is the recap of life over the last 7 months, and I’m back in the saddle, so to speak, and ready to start blogging about fabulous recipes and life at the ranch. gotta start making the Thanksgiving menu SOON!! check back tomorrow and I will have recipes!!!

One ah-ha moment I’ve had while house sitting for my friends this weekend is that life takes practice. In my life I’ve practiced being a wild child, a daughter, a sister, a student, a free spirit, a wife, a mom, a teacher, an athlete, an artist, a Biologist, a friend, a caretaker, and a grandparent to list a few. If I had to identify my favorite I couldn’t as all have shaped my life in some significant way.

This weekend I found myself practicing being a single person. And it took me a while to settle down and accept that. To shop for myself, to walk the dog alone in the woods, to entertain myself by singing and dancing, to cook meals for myself and then sit alone to eat them. I had a little practice at this when my daughter first launched out of the house-I remember spending hours on Skype with my friend laughing and keeping each other company. Now I’m back in the role of co-parent helping my daughter with her twin toddlers, making a home for them under my roof. They make me smile, they make me take a million pictures which I post on FB, they amaze me and they fill my heart and home with love and laughter. But in the back of my mind I know one day they will go to live in their own home. The role of parent is a tough and often demanding life, and most of my friends who are done raising kids can’t see themselves returning to the role as a co-parent as I have, but I believe what ever time I invest in the twins now will help to shape their future as adults. And another part of me has come to realize that I hate being alone and maybe I just chose the role of helping parent because it’s something I know, and it beats the alternative..or does it?

Yikes, how did posting a recipe become a reflection of my life..welll, I was thinking when I AM a single person and I’m lonely I will just invite friends over for dinner, and I will have some amazing recipes from which to choose.

I’m on a fish/seafood kick this week. Dinner last night was shrimp and veggies. I want a better name that mixed veggies..I used Persian Lime Olive Oil so trying to come up with a catchy name reflecting that..Persian Lime Veggies..veggies is too hippy, Persian Lime Vegetable Medley..makes them sound like they are going to get up and dance off your plate, Persian Lime Vegetables..acceptably boring. thank goodness for the edit button.

SERVES 2, PREP TIME 20-30 min

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 pound pre-cooked shrimp with tails on or off

4T oil mix..I used mix of ghee and coconut oil ( for cooking fish)

1 cup Almond flour

1 lemon-cut into quarters

1 egg well beaten

caulifower-cut into bite size pieces

baby broccoli-cut into bite size pieces

snap peas

baby onions

red bell pepper-seeded and cut into bite size peices

1-2 T Persian Lime Olive oil (for cooking veggies)

SPICES:

1/4 t black pepper

1/4 red pepper

2 t lemon pepper ( 1 t for veggies, 1 t for shrimp)

1t garlic salt (1/2 t for shrimp and 1/2 t for veggies)

1 t Northern seasoning for fish or chicken–good stuff

1 t sea salt ( 1/2 t for shrimp and 1/2 t for veggies)

DIRECTIONS:

SHRIMP

Melt oil in large skillet over medium heat

Mix spices with almond flour-pour 1/3 of mix into a pie plate

Dip shrimp in egg, and then coat with almond flour/spice mix one piece at a time..I don’t put all the almond flour/spice mix into pie pan at one time because it tends to clump up. As I coat the pieces of shrimp I put them in a separate pie plate until I’m ready to cook them

Transfer the coated shrimp to skillet and cook in oil until the almond flour is golden brown, only flipping them once (constant flipping makes them soak up too much oil nd become greasy)

Drain cooked shrimp on paper towel as you take them out of the skillet

VEGGIES:

Heat Persian lime olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add veggies and spices and sautee lightly-about 5 min or until desired tenderness is reached.

ENJOY and if you come up with a wildly exotic name for my beautiful vegetables..send me a message

Balance..this day was all about getting myself back on track mentally. funny how just being in the gym, a day of fishing or being in the forest rights my soul..today I indulged in all three..well kinda.

Ironically, one of the exercises we did in warmup for CrossFit this morning involved balance..I kept wondering why I was struggling so much but finally realized I was doing the motion upside down-starting at the bottom and not the top. Once I figured that out, I had to laugh..I was upside down in many ways and there it was for everyone to see.

I’m house sitting for some friends, in their beautiful and super comfy home in Black Forest. I spent several hours hanging out with my friends Mary and Harold who also live in the forest. They were my neighbors before I had to move kicking and screaming to that four letter word..T O W N. gosh I miss the old cabin and my friends. I miss the sound of the wind in the trees and the taste of cold well water. I miss my life there.

After watching a beautiful sunset over Pikes Peak, I got to cooking myself dinner. I’m now on day 22 of Whole30..8 more to go and I’m already thinking I may do another 30..somebody slap me. Since I couldn’t get in a boat and go fishing to round out the day, I figured I would at least eat fish. Talipia Almondine to be specific. My friends house has a built in sound system and there is nothing like it..I think they should come standard with houses..they are every bit as useful as kitchen sinks.I cranked up the old Motown station and was jamming out..the dancing chef..and ask my kids I can NOT dance. I can however cook!! I can’t wait to try this with fresh walleye..that will have to wait until I head home to the Great North this summer.

This is what I created dancing around the kitchen:

TALIPIA ALMONDINE-Serves 2 PREP TIME 20 min

INGREDIENTS:

2-3 pieces of Talipia-can cut in half lengthwise if too big

1 fresh cut lemon

1/2 c Almond flour

2 sprigs Fresh rosemary

1/4 c sliced almonds

1 egg

3-4 T ghee or coconut oil

Spices:

1/2 t cajun seasoning

sea salt 2 grinds

Black pepper 2 grinds

DIRECTIONS:

Get yourself two pie plates (or flat dish with edge)

beat egg in one pie plate

Mix almond flour, and spices in the other

Slice lemon

Melt 2-3 T ghee or coconut oil in skillet over medium heat

Dredge fish pieces in beaten egg

transfer to dish with almond flour and spices and fully coat pieces

transfer fish to skillet, cooking 5-7 min on each side, flipping once, fish is done when it flakes apart with a fork

I love vintage illustrations..found this one looking for images of pomegranate. The illustrator is Otto Wilhelm, 1885. I never knew pomegranates had such beautiful flowers. This time of year they are one of my very favorite snacks. I’ll be sad when they disappear from the produce section some time next month.

Snacks, oh how you have changed. I was just thinking the other day how snacks have assumed a totally different role in my diet. Pre-Paleo snacks were something that I used to console myself, fill in for meals when I was too busy to stop and make something healthy to eat, or when I planned poorly and ended up starving and roaming the aisles in a convenience store for something to keep me from falling over. Snacks are now something I plan into my daily meals and use to maintain my blood glucose levels. Might not be Super Bowl commercial material, but it works for me.

In order to maintain my blood glucose levels, I find I need to eat about 6 times per day. It does make me seem somewhat focused on food when I have to think about eating 6 different times in a day, but once you establish recipes and menu plans it really isn’t that bad.

My go to list for snacks includes the following:

tree nuts..almonds, cashews being at the top of the list

fresh fruit..this time of year pomegranate is my very favorite, but berries are always a big hit with me too. Pineapple, mango and bananas are great if you prefer sweeter fruits. Dates are also very sweet

Fresh veggies..I’m a big fan of cutting up veggies for grab and go snacking.

Beef jerky-making your own is the best bet as most contain preservatives

Perrier with lime or lemon or fresh berries

Olives-I just ADORE olives

Almond butter or cashew butter..I recently found a great Colorado company called Radiantly Raw..check them out on FB. Their vanilla cashew butter is fantastic AND they are nice people.

Lara Bars-great afternoon treat for me..they are great frozen!! Try not to overindulge though.

If you have a candy dish at work, just try this technique..walk by briskly and think about all the germs in the bowl from people sticking their hands in it..luckily for me the one at work here has chocolate in it and I’ve never been a fan of chocolate. If, however, we had a block of cheese or an open bag of chips available I might have to exert a little more will power. I think most people are either in the sugar or the salt category when it comes to snacks. On Whole30, we are taught to break those patterns and learn to eat simply to eat and not to fulfill cravings. I find it’s easier to break old patterns when I do maintain my blood glucose levels and stay properly hydrated.

You know what I realized today?? After blogging for a few months, I have finally learned how to spell zucchini and broccoli without spell check rescuing my efforts..guess that means I must use those items frequently in my meals!

Almost everyone I know loves Spaghetti. It’s an easy meal to fix, you can add tons of veggies AND it’s probably one of the most commonly eaten leftovers. While other dinner leftovers are shoved to the back of the fridge where they become science experiments, spaghetti is frequently eaten for lunch the next day.

Several years back I was introduced to spaghetti squash. If you have yet to discover this little treasure of the squash world, then by all means TRY IT!. With traditional grain pasta off the Paleo menu, this squash makes a fantastic substitute for noodles.

The hardest part of preparing spaghetti squash is cutting it in half..the hull is incredibly tough. But hey, many of you are CrossFitters so grab that knife and put a little muscle power into in.

My sauce is 100% homemade. Most commercial sauces contain sugars and preservatives. Homemade sauce is simple to make and you can pick and choose which veggies and spices you prefer. You can even make a big batch and freeze half if you are feeling particularly industrious.

Cut squash in half longitudinally, scoop out seeds, lay squash down on sheet with the rounded hull pointing up, flat cut edge down against dish or cookie sheet.

Bake 30-45 minThe squash is cooked when your fork pierces easily through the flesh to the outside peel and separates easily into noodle-like strands. Pull the squash flesh from the peel to separate the flesh into strands. The strands wrap around the squash horizontally. Raking your fork in the same direction as the strands will produce the longest noodles.

Call me weird but I LOVE looking at well-displayed produce, whether it’s at the farmer’s market, the grocery store, or my fridge..ok it’s not that great in my fridge, but someday I will figure out a way to make it fabulous she said.

Though I’m a HUGE fan of snow and cold, it seems we’ve been inside a lot so far this winter. I still bundle up and get out to walk the dog, but I find myself day dreaming about gardening and Spring.

When my friend Jody had a greenhouse, we used to go in there and sit and drink our coffee and admire the produce growing madly on the vine. Jody has a green thumb that would make the Jolly Green Giant jealous. I walked my dogs by her home every morning when I lived in Black Forest and it was commonplace for her to come running out to the gate with fresh eggs, or a bag of spinach.

If you haven’t noticed yet, I tend to focus on making meals that are 30 min or less to prep/serve. Stir fry is a quick meal and a great way to get in your daily doses of veggies and lean meat. I typically use either chicken breasts or pork. Sometimes I grill the meat and stir fry my veggies. No wok, no worries..cast iron skillet works just as well for me.

This was a fairly simple 4 veggie stir fry to accompany my grilled chicken. If you love broccoli, but haven’t tried “baby broccoli” also called broccolini, then treat yourself to some soon. I really prefer it to broccoli . The secret to stir fry is to use minimal oil and get those veggies in and out quickly so they stay crisp. The true color of the vegetable should remain the same.

Although this stir fry only contains baby broccoli, onion, garlic and red peppers, there are tons of veggies you can add to stir fry. Bok choy is one of my favorites too. Others I commonly add to stir fry are carrots, celery, mushrooms, zucchini, chinese cabbage, shallots and water chestnuts. If you haven’t tried bitter melon, now’s the time. If you like that “soy sauce” flavor try adding coconut amines.

As far as meat..strips of pork, chicken, beef, venison, and elk all work for me.

One of the very first breakfast meals I ever made for myself after I converted to Paleo lifestyle was egg bites..aka egg muffins.

I bet if you did a survey of those who follow a Paleo lifestyle, you’d find out the “go to” standard breakfast is bacon and eggs. Nothing wrong with that, but with ALL those wonderful recipes and flavors out there, and life ripping by at warp speed why just settle for the same old same old. My life is routine enough to not allow my diet to follow the same boring pattern.

Enter egg bites..not only can you radically alter the flavor by your choice of ingredients, they are PORTABLE and much easier to eat on the go than a plate of bacon and eggs. Yikes, did I just confess to eating breakfast in my car? Excited to report that I’m buying a NEW car next month and one rule will be NO FOOD. I tend to turn my vehicles into extensions of my home. Kinda like a house on wheels..my own version of a mobile home I guess. My kids often refer to my car as the craft mobile when I have it loaded up with yarn or quilting projects. Rule 2 for the new car…no crafts..that will be tougher than not eating in the car for me.

OK-back to the merits of egg bites.. they are an easy way to add more veggies into breakfast meal and you can use up leftovers too. For example if you had grilled chicken or even taco leftovers you can add those to your egg bites.

So what do you need for egg bites..well a muffin tin for one, some coconut oil to grease the muffin tin, eggs AND the rest is wide open to anything Paleo or Whole30 legal.

I tend to choose flavor categories such as Italian egg bites, southwestern egg bites, pizza egg bites, seafood egg bites…you get the idea. I then match spices and ingredients to go with my flavor. The ones shared here are veggie flavor because I always seem to have the primary ingredients on hand.

INGREDIENTS:

6 Eggs-organic free range, anti-biotic free

1/2 can black olives-sliced

Broccoli-chopped

Zucchini-grated, no need to peel

Sweet potato-peeled and shredded

Orange bell pepper-diced

Green onion-diced

Coconut oil-melted

DIRECTIONS:

Pre-heat oven to 350F

Grease the muffin tins well with melted coconut oil..if you have that spray cooking oil..THROW IT OUT NOW, it’s plastic in a can

Beat eggs with whisk.

Add chopped veggies, and spices to eggs and stir well to mix. If you want to add meat or seafood in, now’s the time. Carefully, spoon mixture into greased muffin tin.

Bake at 350 for 25-35 min. They are done when you insert a knife and it comes out clean. Try not to overcook as they may get a little rubbery. You can reduce cooking time if you sautee veggies first.